2 injured in shooting on Interstate 8 in La Mesa: Portion of freeway closed for several hours

2 men in serious condition at Grossmont Hospital

10:37 AM, May 5, 2013

6:47 PM, May 5, 2013

A shooting on Interstate 8 in La Mesa led to two people being hospitalized Sunday and temporarily closed the eastbound route to El Cajon.

KGTV

Copyright 2013 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Copyright 2013 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Copyright 2013 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

LA MESA, Calif. - A shooting on Interstate 8 in La Mesa led to two people being hospitalized Sunday and temporarily closed the eastbound route to El Cajon.

The CHP received a call of a vehicle partially blocking a portion of Interstate 8 at State Route 125 and a person lying next to the vehicle, La Mesa Police Lt. Matt Nicholass said.

Nicholass said two vehicles were heading eastbound on I-8 just west of the 125 interchange at about 3:38 a.m. Shots were fired from one vehicle into the other. The shooter's vehicle sped off.

The victims' car, a silver Nissan Maxima, pulled over and one of the occupants got out and fell onto the freeway pavement. At some point, friends helped that person back into the car and they sped off to Grossmont Hospital.

"The call was from Grossmont Hospital reporting it had two subjects show up in the emergency room with gunshot wounds," Nicholass said.

Outside Grossmont Hospital's emergency room, 10News video showed the silver Nissan behind yellow crime scene tape with its doors still open. Police are working to get a description of the second vehicle involved in the shooting.

The extent of the gunshot victims' injuries was unknown, Nicholass said.

Police said Sunday afternoon that one victim suffered a gunshot wound to his left arm. He is in stable condition and is expected to survive.

The other victim had a gunshot wound to his head and is in critical condition. He is not expected to survive, according to medical staff.

The gunshot victims, both young men, were not identified. No motive for the shooting was released.

Eastbound Interstate 8 was closed from 70th Street in La Mesa to the El Cajon Boulevard off-ramp in El Cajon for several early morning hours, Nicholass said. The freeway was reopened at about 9:45 a.m.

Nicholass said the CHP and La Mesa police were continuing to investigate the incident.

Copyright 2013 Scripps Media, Inc. City News Service contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.